The Little Mermaid
by americanhoney139
Summary: Princess Elena has always been fascinated with the Upperwold, where people walk on two legs. What happens when she saves the Prince of Mysteria and falls in love with him? She wants to be part of his world, but for that she needs a spell. Selling her voice for legs is the only way to be with him? What will her father think and how can she keep them? Book 3 of Delena Princess Story
1. Going Down

Seagulls soar over the skies of Mysteria and dolphins jump in and out of the water playfully. Behind them is a gigantic ship that appears out of the fog like a ghost. The sea creatures hide underneath the water while the ship possesses and pop back up when it does. The Royal Ship of Mysteria makes waves in the crisp clear sea water as it moves along. The crews on board pulls up a net of fish from the side of the boat as the rest of them hoist the sails. At the front of the ship is a beautiful mermaid statue in gold. Prince Damon is standing on deck with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. His crystal blue eyes reflect the ocean he loves so much. He pulls on a rope with his men and together they hoist the sail faster than any human crew could ever hope.

"Isn't this great?" the prince declares, throwing his arms up to catch the breeze. "The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face... aaah, the perfect day to be at sea!" Damon's eyes focus on his brother, who is leaning over the side of the boat with an almost greenish tint to his face.

"Oh, yes... urp... delightful," Stefan stammers before he throws up again.

"A strong wind and a cooperating ocean," Kol, one of the sailors, shouts happily, "King Elijah must be in a good mood today!"

"King Elijah?" Damon questions the sailor.

"The ruler o' the mer-people, my prince," Kol explains with a nod. "Every good seaman knows about 'im." Kol tilts his head to the side. "You didn't think we was the only supernatural species out there, did 'ya."

Stefan shakes his head. "Mer-people," Stefan huffs. "Damon, don't listen to his crazy stories!" He pats his brother on the shoulder. "We've already got enough on our plate making peace with the werewolves in the west. We don't need this as well."

"They aren't stories!" Kol shouts. Stefan glares as him but he continues, "they're the truth!" He points a struggling fish at the prince and his advisor. "I'm tellin' you, they live deep in the depths of Mysteria's oceans." But as the sailor continues, the fish carries on its struggle. Kol accidentally lets it go and it hits Stefan with its tail before it falls back into the water.

The fish took a deep breath of water and swims deep into the ocean. The little fish swims through Seaweed Forest, the Kelp Woods, and even across Sunken Ship Trench. Soon enough, it reaches the hubbub of Atlantis, the city of the mer-people. The citizens of all shapes and sizes follow the fish through the streets while Atlantisian palace shone brighter than the sun Above. The numerous mer-people enter the palace doors and gather in the grand auditorium, where the fish with trumpets play music that will announce the king's arrival. Once the music is finished, a tiny seahorse appears.

"Announcing the King of Atlantis, Elijah!" declares the seahorse. The King rides out in a giant seashell being pulled by dolphins. He rides to the middle of the stage and uses his magic trident to create what looks like fireworks for his people to enjoy.

"I'm really looking forward to this performance, Alaric," King Elijah's voice is deep as he looks at the red crab beside him.

"Your Majesty," the crab bows. "This will be the finest concert I have ever conducted." Alaric assures the king with a smile. The king swims out of the seashell and takes his place on his throne. "Your daughters, they will be spectacular!" Just then, the little fish pulling Alaric's shell wants to pull again, which makes the shell flip over and Alaric has to climb back up.

"Yes, and especially my little Elena," King Elijah replies, a smile on his face as he thinks about his youngest daughter.

"Yes, yes," Alaric nods, finally getting back in his shell. "She has the most beautiful voice. Hmm?" He outs his claw over his mouth and mumbles to himself, "If only she'd show up for rehearsals once in a while." He bows to the king again before riding over to the stage as the people clap for him.

The lights go out as he touches down beside a podium and pulls out the sheet music for the concert. As he sets it down, he taps his conductor's baton and begins to instruct to orchestra. One by one, Elijah's daughter's call come out of large clam shells, singing their parts flawlessly. However, when they all open the last one in the middle, which is supposed to contain Elena, he is nowhere to be seen. The entire performance is ruined. Alairc gasps in shock and King Elijah is not impressed.

"Elena!" he shouts furiously. "Don't tell me she swam off again!"

* * *

At the same time, a young mermaid named Elena, with tan olive skin and bright brown eyes, swims along the ridge of Sunken Ship Trench. She has uncovered yet another sunken ship that she expects to find lots of Upperworld treasures for her collection. She gapes at the scene before her for a minute when she hears a voice calling her name.

"Elena, wait up!" it calls.

"Well, hurry up, Anna!" Elena laughs, long brown hair floating around her like a halo. She looks up to see her pale skinned best friend, short black hair moving around her head. Anna's kelp green eyes sparkle with fear in the dimness of the trench.

"You know I can't swim as fast as you!" Anna shouts. Her dark navy blue tail swishes back and forth as she hurries over to her best friend. They've been best friends since before the law against going to the surface. They're practically siblings! Elena just stares ahead at the sunken ship.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Elena asks in awe.

"Yeah, it's great," Anna replies as she crosses her arms. "Now can we get going?" she begins to swim away but Elena grabs her hand.

"You're not getting cold fins now, are you?" Elena asks, her voice teasing.

"No, it just looks dangerous in there and, you know, your father would freak it we got hurt," Anna rambles.

"All right, I'm going inside," Elena shrugs and moves to swim inside the nearest porthole. "You can just stay here and watch for sharks."

"Okay. Yeah, you go. I'll just stay and..." Anna beings as Elena enters the ship. "What? Sharks? Elena!" But when she tries to swim into the same porthole, she gets stuck. "Elena, I'm stuck! Help!" Elena laughs out loud as she turns around and swims over to pull her best friend out of the porthole.

"Oh, An," she chuckles, pulling on the girl's arms.

"Do you really think they'd be sharks around here?" Anna asks, looking around with worry as her tail swishes on the other side of the porthole. With a _POP_, Elena and Anna tumble back into the ship, the girl landing on her backside and Elena laughs loudly.

"Anna, don't be such a guppy." Elena brushes hair out of her eyes and looks around the room, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"I'm not a guppy," Anna pouts, crossing her arms over her chest. While the two merfolk are talking about sharks, one passes by the whole right after Elena pulled Anna inside the ship.

"Oh, this is just great," Anna mumbles sarcastically to himself as she swims after Elena, following the flick of her light purple tail. "Adventure, thrills… danger everywhere you look…" Then, all of a sudden, she screams and swims ahead of Elena, causing the two mers to collide.

"Are you okay, Jer?" Elena asks when she pushes herself off of the rotten wood floor.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Elena's eyes shine with concern as she reaches out to help up her friend.

"Yeah," Anna reassures her friend before they continue their journey deeper into the bowels of the ship. They both swim into a room where Elena sees the most extraordinary object she's ever seen.

"Oh, look, Anna!" she cheers, swimming faster. "Have you ever seen such wonderful things?" Elena picks up what looks like it slightly resembles her father's trident, and is what Upworlders would call a fork, but the two mermaids don't know that.

"Sweet!" Anna smiles at her friend's enthusiasm before she frowns. "What is it?"

"I don't know, but I bet you Jeremy will!" Elena answers him with a smile just as a shadow crosses near the window they are by.

"Did you see something?" Anna asks worriedly as Elena swims away to look at some of the other treasures in the room. Her kelp sack slowly begins to fill with treasure to take back to her grotto as Anna worries in the corner.

"I wonder what this could be…" Elena mumbles to herself as she picks up what Upworlders would identify as a pipe, but she doesn't know that.

"Elena!" Anna cries out.

"Would you calm down?" Elena barks at her friend. "Nothing is going to happen." Anna turns around to retort but he sees a great white shark approaching them. It breaks the window as Anna screams again in fear.

"Shark!" Anna cries. "We're fish food!" The shark follows Elena and Anna around the inside of the ship as the two mermaids try to avoid it. Elena's able to swim faster than her friend, so she grabs Anna's hand to help her. The monstrous beast destroys the ship with its body trying to get to the two girls. Elena gets away, but she realizes that she has left her bag behind. She shoves Anna out of a large crack in the ship before she does some tricky swimming to get back to her bag. Anna grabs Elena's hand once she gets back out of the ship and the two of them swim around the anchor. The shark chases them around, snapping at their tails but it gets trapped in an attempt to swim through the hole in the top of the anchor. The shark attempts to wiggle itself free but is unsuccessful.

"Serves you right, you big bully!" Anna shouts courageously only to be snapped at by the shark. She swims to hide behind Elena and the older girl chuckles.

"You really _are_ a guppy, Anna," Elena teases, poking her friend.

"I am not!" the younger girl protests once again as they head toward the surface of the ocean.

**So this is the first chapter for The Little Mermaid! I hope you like what I've done with the characters. Elena's tail is the same color as her Miss Mystic Falls dress in S1 when she danced with Damon. You'll be seeing the actual dress later on! I was wondering who should be Flounder, but I forgot about Scuttle so I switched Anna and Jeremy. Elena needs a girlfriend to help her out sometimes and I decided to make Anna into a mermaid instead of keeping her as a fish.****  
**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**P.S. I would _love_ to see a seasick Stefan. I wonder if vampires can even _get_ seasick. Oh, well, they can in my story!**


	2. Part of Your World

Jeremy the seagull is sitting on a rock, playing with a telescope while humming a tune. He is relaxing when someone calls out his name.

"Jeremy! Hey, Jeremy!" he hears a voice call, and puts the telescope to his eyes, but it's the wrong way so it looks as if one was very far away.

"Whoa!" he almost falls off of his perch. "Mermaid off the port bow! Elena! How you doin', kid?" He is shouting as if they are far away but Elena pushes the telescope down from his eyes. He blinks, seeing the brunette mermaid right in front of his face. "Whoa, what a swim."

"Jer, look what we found," Elena tells the seagull, spilling out the contents of her kelpsack.

"We were in this sunken ship," Anna adds, brushing a strand of short black hair from her eyes. "It was scary."

"Human stuff?" the seagull questions. "Let me see it!" He stumbles down the rock and pulls something out of the green bag. He looks at it closely, almost poking himself in the eye with a pointed tip. Well, would you look at this!"

"What is it, Jeremy?" Elena asks, looking excited.

"It's a dinglehopper," Jeremy informs them, coming up with a strange name and usage for a fork. "Humans use these little babies... to straighten their hair out. See?" He begins to comb out his hair with the fork, making it stick up at strange angles. "Just a little twirl here and a yank there and voila. You've got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over." He hands the dinglehopper back to Elena.

"What about this one?" Elena questions the _wise_ seagull. Anna crosses her arms, flicking her tail nervously.

"I haven't seen this in years, this is _wonderful_!" Jeremy caws loudly.

"What is it?" Elena and Anna say at the same time.

"A banded, bulbous snarfblatt," Jeremy answers.

"Ohhh," both girls nod as if they understand.

"You see the snarfblatt dates back to pre-hysterical times when humans would sit around and stare at each other all day," he moves very close to Elena and looks her straight in the eye, "got very boring. So they invented this snarfblatt to make fine music, allow me!" He attempts to blow the pipe and seaweed pops out of the hole.

"Music?" Elena realizes, blinking rapidly.

"It's stuck!" he coughs and gags.

"Oh, the concert!" Elena flicks her tail nervously. "Oh my gosh my father's gonna kill me!"

"The concert was today?" Anna asks, tilting her head to the side.

"We're sorry, Jeremy, but we really gotta go!" Elena yells as she begins to swim back into the ocean with Anna. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem, sweetheart!" Jeremy waves a wing at her. "That's what friends are for!"

Elena pulls Anna along as they dive under the water, swimming as fast as they can back to the castle, but they are unaware that someone is watching them. Two eels to be exact. The two eels follow Anna and Elena as they swim by.

* * *

Meanwhile, the oldest of the evil creatures of the ocean, a cecaelia, or octopus-woman hybrid, is watching Elena and Anna scurry home through the magic that her eels had. Each of them has one yellow eye that, when glowing, creates a viewing portal to the outside world.

"Yeeeeeees, hurry home, princess," she hisses. "We wouldn't want to miss old Daddy's celebration, now, would we? Huh! Celebration indeed. Bah!" She throws her hands up in the air, shaking her head. Her long brunette locks sway in the current. "In _my_ day, we had fantastical feasts when I lived in the palace. And now, look at me - wasted away to practically nothing - banished, and exiled, and practically starving, while he and his flimsy fish-folk celebrate." Her voice is full of loathing and her brown eyes have an evil glint to them. She uses her tentacles to move around her lair, going through her cupboard in search of a snack. "Well, I'll give 'em something to celebrate soon enough. Flotsam! Jetsam! I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little daughter of his. She may be the key to Elijah's undoing..." She laughs manically as her eyes turn to slits.

* * *

Back at the Atlantisian palace's throne room, Anna hides behind a column of coral as she listens to Elena get lectured by her father.

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lady," King Elijah sighs, putting a hand to his forehead.

"Daddy, I'm sorry, I just forgot, I..." she stammers.

"As a result of your _careless_ behavior..." King Elijah begins.

"Careless and reckless behavior!" Alaric adds.

"The entire celebration was, er..."

"Well, it was ruined!" Alaric cries, throwing his claws up in the air. "That's all, completely destroyed! This concert was to be the pinnacle of my distinguished career. Now thanks to you, I am the laughingstock of the entire kingdom!"

Anna has just enough. She knows that Elena can't take all of the blame, so she courageously swims forward into the conversation.

"But it wasn't her fault!" she objects. "Ah - well - first, ahh, this shark chased us - yeah - yeah! And we tried to - but we couldn't - and - then grrrrrrrrr - and - and we - whoooaaaaaa!" She does many maneuvers with her body as if trying to illustrate the story. "Ah, and then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and..."

"Seagull? What?" King Elijah blinks. "Oh - you went up to the surface again, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" His face is red with anger now, eyes flashing.

"Nothing – happened," Elena says slowly.

"Elena, how many times must we go through this?" he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "You could've been seen by one of those barbarians - by - by one of those _humans_!"

"Daddy," Elena cries, "they're not barbarians!"

"They're dangerous; do you think I would want to see my youngest daughter snared by some fish eater's hook?" His voice rises in pitch, but so does his daughter.

"I'm eighteen years old - I'm not a child anymore...!" she flicks her tail indignantly, brown eyes flashing with an emotion almost akin to hatred.

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young lady," Elijah warms. Beside him, Alaric rolls his eyes at the girl. "As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules!"

"But if you would just listen..." Elena tries, but her father cuts her off.

"Not another word! And I am never, NEVER to hear of you going to the surface again," Elijah shouts, making some small pebbles dislodge from the ceiling. "Is that clear?"

Elena flees the throne room, tears streaming down her cheeks to mix with the water around her. Anna follows her out, but not without one last glare at the king.

"Hm. Teenagers," Alaric huffs. "They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you."

"Do you... think - I was too hard on her?" Elijah asks as she leans back on his throne with a sigh.

"Definitely not!" Alaric shakes his head. "Why, if Elena was my daughter, I'd show her who was boss." He moves around the side of the throne, throwing his claws up the in the air to make his point. "None of this flitting to the surface and other such nonsense. No, sir! I'd keep her under tight control."

"You're absolutely right, Alaric," Elijah nods.

"Of course."

"Elena needs constant supervision."

"Constant."

"Someone to watch over her, to keep her out of trouble."

"All the time."

"And _you_ are just the crab to do it," Elijah pokes Alaric's shell where his chest would be if he were mer.

* * *

Alaric follows Elena and Anna as he mumbles to himself, but he notices that they are going somewhere out of the kingdom walls once again. "Where are they going _now_?" he thinks to himself as he continues to follow the two teenage mermaids beyond the walls of the palace. He focuses on Elena's light purple tail as the two friends weave in and out of the crowded city before they escape into Kelp Forest. They begin to swim faster as they reach a certain point in the forest before stopping by a large rock. By the time they stop, Alaric is having trouble breathing but he swallows and continues to watch them from the nearest tree. Elena pushes the rock to the side to reveal a small cave on the bottom of the seafloor between two cliffs. Just as the rock is closing, Alaric slips through, but he gets stuck. He tries furiously to pull himself out and is successful but he hit his head on an hourglass. When Alaric catches his bearings he looks up to see a marvelously vast collection of trinkets, odds and ends that Elena and Anna have collected over the years. He has entered their hidden grotto and, down on the floor of the grotto, Elena lay there beside her best friend, sulking.

"Are you okay, Elena?" Anna asks her best friend, tilting her head to the side as she sits up and folds her tail under her.

"If only I could make him understand," she sighs, brushing a hand through her hair; "I just don't see things the way he does." She swims up and touches one of the trinkets, a waterproof book with strange writing on it. She spins around to look at her friend. "Maybe he's right. Maybe there is something the matter with me…" She rests her head against the book's spine. "I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad."

"_Look at this stuff_

_Isn't it neat?_

_Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?_

_Wouldn't you think I'm the girl_

_The girl who has everything?_

_Look at this trove_

_Treasures untold_

_How many wonders can one cavern hold?_

_Looking around here you'd think_

_Sure, she's got everything_

_I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty_

_I've got whozits and whatzits galore_

_You want thingamabobs?_

_I've got twenty!_

_But who cares?_

_No big deal_

_I want more_," as Elena sings, she moves around the grotto and touches some of the most precious things she's found. She sighs and turns back to her friend. "_I wanna be where the people are_," she points up to the skylight in the top of the grotto. "_I wanna see, wanna see them dancin_'" She moves her body back and forth, trying to do the same thing as the humans. "_Walking around on those - what do you call 'em_?" She looks down at her tail before she smiles. "_Oh - feet_!"

"_Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far_," she flicks her tail and grabs Anna's hand, spinning her around and the two girls laugh. "Legs are required for jumping, dancing…" she stops, "_Strolling along down the - what's that word again_?" Anna opens her mouth to speak but Elena finds the word on her own. "_Street_."

Anna lets her go and she sits back down on the rock.

"_Up where they walk, up where they run_

_Up where they stay all day in the sun_

_Wanderin' free - wish I could be_

_Part of that world_."

"_What would I give if I could live out of these waters_?" she drifts back down to the sand, laying on her back as she looks up at the sun through the skylight. "_What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand_?" Her voice quivers when she sings the next line. "_Bet'cha on land they understand; bet they don't reprimand their daughters_…" she flicks her tail and pushes off the floor. "_Bright young women, sick of swimmin', ready to stand_".

"_And ready to know what the people know_," she puts her hand delicately on another book spine, stroking the label. The title is _Gone with the _Wind, but she can't read the strange lettering. "_Ask 'em my questions and get some answers_," she move to an oil painting and touches the fire. "_What's a fire and why does it - what's the word_?" She sighs before going up a note. "_Burn_?"

"_When's it my turn_?" she moves to the skylight, a sigh on her lips. "_Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above_?" He reaches her hand out of the skylight as far as it can go, as if reaching for the surface. "_Out of the sea, wish I could be_," she lets her body float back down to the seafloor, "_part of that world_." The two mermaids sit in silence when, suddenly, they hear a crash as Alaric rolls out of his hiding place trying to grab a hold of something but ends up having a whole bunch of items fall on him. The two girls spin around when they hear the noise.

"Elena, what is all this stuff?" Alaric asks, walking over to where the princess and her companion are sitting with tails tucked under their bodies.

"It's our collection," Elena explains nervously, eyes filled with fear.

"Oh, your collection, I see," Alaric replies calmly before yelling, "if your father knew you were—"

"You're not going to tell him, are you?" Anna asks, glaring at the small crustacean.

"Please don't tell him, Alaric," Elena pleads with her father's advisor, puppy dog eyes weakening his resolve. "He wouldn't understand."

"Elena, you seem to be under a lot of stress," Alaric puts a claw on her arm, "I'll just take you some and get you—" Alaric begins but Elena sees a big shadow cross the skylight, blocking out the light.

"What do you think that is?" she breathes the question as she begins to swim toward it. The three leave the grotto behind and Anna pushes it closed before rushing after her friend.

"Elena!" Alaric cries as he grab onto Anna's midnight blue tail, "Elena wait!"

**So, we've got one song down! I find Jeremy as a seagull very amusing. Next chapter we have Damon's birthday and the storm that brings Damon and Elena kinda together. The only hard part about that is when Elena and Jeremy are trying to see if Damon is _dead_, which he is already. But I'm gonna put a twist on that part! Please reveiw!**


	3. A Strange Birthday

Elena swims toward the surface of the water. She arches her back as she breaches the surface, her hair flicking out behind her before she brushes the stands of wet hair from her eyes. Blinking water from her eyes, she gasps in amazement when she sees the Royal Barge of Mysteria. There is a colorful fireworks display in the sky overhead as music plays on board. Princess Elena wants to see what they are doing on the ship. Moments later, Anna and Alaric join her on the surface as she laughs joyously.

"Elena, what is going on?" Alaric asks, but his question goes unanswered when he looks ahead to see what Elena has seen. "Sweet seaweed!" Elena begins to swim toward the ship as Alaric calls out "Elena, please!" He waves his claws in the air. "Will you get your head out of the clouds and back in the water where it belongs?"

He watches in horror as Elena climbs up the ship using her upper body strength as she hears music playing and people talking. She peaked through the porthole on the top deck of the ship to see multiple pairs of feet. Numerous members of the Prince Damon's crew dancing and laughing happily. She can't help but smile while she watched the fun. However, Damon's pet golden retriever, Niklaus, can smell Elena's presence and begins sniffing the ground of the ship to find out where the scent is coming from. Elena moves from the window out onto the ledge before being seen by the retriever. She turns back only to let out an almost silent gasp when she finds herself face to face with the creature. It begins to sniff her until Damon calls out to it.

"Nik," Damon calls, whistling for the small puppy. "Nik, where are you?" The small golden retriever pup races on unsteady legs back to his master's side, tongue hanging out. He looks at where his pet has just come from, tilting his head to the side when he hears a strange heartbeat coming from the side of the ship. Elena watches Prince Damon, entranced by the oceanic color of his eyes, but she is snapped out of the trance when a voice calls out to her.

"Hey!" It's Jeremy's loud voice and Elena cringes. "Elena!" He flaps over before landing at her side. "What a party, right?"

"Jer, be quiet!" Elena hisses, clamping a hand around his orange beak to shut him up. "You're going to give us away!"

"Oh, I see," Jeremy bobs his head. "We're investigatin'…. We're out to discover!" Jeremy yells the last part and Elena scowls before she covers his beak once again.

"I've never seen a human this close before," Elena breathes as her eyes become glassy with longing as she watches the ocean eyed man make beautiful music. "Oh... he's very handsome, isn't he?"

"I don't know," Jeremy looks at the dog and scratches his neck awkwardly before glancing at Elena and back, "he looks kind of hairy and slobbery to me."

"No, not that one" Elena laughs, a sound like chimes, as she points to the dark haired man with the sapphire eyes, "the one playing the snarfblatt."

Suddenly, the music stops and Stefan, Damon's younger brother, steps forward. "Everyone, as Damon's brother, it is my honor to present him with a _very_ large and _very_ expensive gift." He smiles at the cloth-covered gift.

"Stefan, brother, you shouldn't have," Damon chuckles. "Really, you _shouldn't_ have."

"Happy Birthday, Damon!" Stefan cheers as some of the men pull the curtain off of an obsidian statue of Damon wielding a sword, as he has never done before. Nik's hackles rise and he growls at the statue.

"Uh, gee Stef," Damon scratches the back of his neck, "it's... it's really something!"

"Yes, I commissioned it myself," Stefan nods, a happy smile on his face. "I would have liked it to be a wedding present, but…"

Damon groans and slugs his brother in the shoulder, shaking his head. "Don't start that again." He runs a hand through his hair, making Elena swoon where she sits. "Well, she's out there; I just haven't found her yet."

"Maybe you aren't looking hard enough, brother," Stefan thinks out loud.

"Believe me, Stef, when I find the right girl, I'll know," he smiles softly at the thought of his dream girl. "Without a doubt, it'll just-BAM-hit me. Like lightening." Lightning cracks in the background and a storm quickly appears in the sky.

"There's a storm abrewin'!" Kol shouts. "Man the sails!" Damon and the rest of the crew quickly begin to help secure the boat for the storm. Nik begins to paw at his mater's heel and the prince turns to the small pup.

"Stefan, take Nik downstairs to my quarters and stay there with him," Damon orders and his brother nods, already looking green again. As soon as Stefan and the pup disappear below deck, Damon gets back to work. Waves crash against the boat as Anna and Alaric look out to find Elena. Both seagull and mermaid try to hold onto the boat, but Jeremy can't hold onto the side of the rope any longer.

"The wind is too strong!" he calls out as he finally lets go and is blown away by the force of the wind. "Elena!" The merprincess is worried about her friend, but knew he'd be able to find his way back after the storm is over.

The ship begins to sway and tip due to the storm's harshness and water washes over the deck of the ship. Damon notices that she ships wheel is unattended so he takes command and tries to steer the ship. He pulls on the wheel so hard that it splinters in his hand. He cruses and pulls out the splinters, watching as the skin seems to heal itself.

Meanwhile, Elena tries her hardest to fight the raging wind and the vacuum of the water trying to suck her in, finally succeeding in pushing her into the water. The merprincess knows she has to rescue the land born prince because he can't breathe underwater, so she wins back up to the choppy waves. Suddenly, one of the ship's sails is stuck by lightning and catches fore. Elena gasps, knowing that Prince Damon is still on the ship and his life is in danger. He pushes off all of the men in his crew into the safety of the lifeboats, catching Stefan by the arm as he loses his balance. He puts his brother on the last boat before realizing that Nik is not among them.

"Damon!" Stefan cries out to his brother when he sees him going back into the fire. He scowls at his brother's stupidity, but he understands why he did it. Damn jumps across the burning deck to see a cowering golden retriever puppy on the other side of the ship. He calls out to it and the little pup jumps into his arms. He is at the railing when a part of the mast falls and traps his leg, a lick of flame sliding up his leg. He throws Nik to Stefan with a powerful arm and the dog yelps as it's thrown through the air.

Elena blanches when the boat gives a final groan before it seems to break apart almost as if it was ripped by giant hands. The two halves begin to sink, letting off hisses of steam and the brunette mermaid feels like crying salty tears for the man she's never met. She almost cries in relief when she sees him unconscious— his neck is actually snapped but Elena doesn't know that— and using a wooden beam for support. Suddenly, Damon begins to fall and sink into the water. While Alaric and Anna are watching from afar, the merprincess, with a powerful swipe of her tail, dives back under the water to search for the beautiful man with the eyes of the ocean. She finds him with his eyes closed and his head hanging at a strange angle, but she pulls him up anyway, giving him support with her arm. Once she breaches the surface, Anna swims over and lifts his other arm so that, together, they can guild him to safety.

She turns around to see the wreckage of the ship dip below the surface and she knows that she'll do anything to find the sunken ship… anything to be closer to the Prince.

* * *

The next morning finds Elena and Anna finally managing to find a beach to rest Damon's body on. He still hasn't come to and the brunette thinks it's due to the odd angle of his neck. Alaric frowns when he sees the princess's smile as she brushes hair from the man's forehead. He almost jumps out of his shell when Jeremy lands beside him. He waddles over to the merprincess while Anna slips back into the water beside the royal advisor.

"Is he dead?" Elena asks, her voice soft with worry.

"It's hard to say…" Jeremy forces one of the prince's eyes open before he lets it drop down again. He waddles down to his feet and presses one ear against Damon's foot. "Oh I can't make out a heartbeat." Suddenly, there's a loud cracking noise, making everyone jump, but Damon only groans and snuggles further into his place on Elena's chest, where she placed him so she could cradle his head in her hands.

"No look, he's breathing," she points to where his stomach is rising and falling. Her eyes twinkle in the sunlight and she smiles at him. "He's so beautiful." She sifts through Damon's raven locks and giggles slightly when it looks like fish swimming in the sea. She begins to hum before it turns into a song.

"What would I give to live where you are?" she sings softly to him as she cradles his face in her hands, tracing the lines of his face with a delicate finger. "What would I pay to stay here beside you? What would I do to see you smiling at me?"

Anna sighs, knowing her friend is already in love with a man she has not spoken even one word to. Alaric huffs beside her and looks like he's getting ready to say something when Anna covers his mouth. "Where would we walk, where would we run, if we could stay all day in the sun?" Elena continues, watching as Damon's eyelids flutter and a flash of blue is all she can see. "Just you and me, and I could be… part of your world." She presses a tender kiss to his sun soaked forehead, brushing her hand down his jaw one more time, before he groans again.

"Damon!" she hears the blond brother call out from behind a dune. "Damon!"

Elena jumps up, dropping Damon's hand, and dives back into the water just as Stefan and a barking Nik come around the dune. Damon groans and his eyes shoot open, looking around for something. Stefan reaches out to help him up. "Oh, you really delight in this sadistic strain on my blood pressure don't you?" Stefan jokes as he helps his brother to a nearby rock. Nik wags his tail and licks his master's hand.

"A girl," Damon blinks, "rescued me. She was singing. She had the most beautiful voice." He remembers seeing kind chocolate brown eyes and the brush of silky hair on his cheek. Her voice, well, there isn't really a word to describe it.

"Ah Damon, I think you swallowed a bit too much sea-water," the blond chuckles, patting his brother on the back. "Off we go. Come along, Nik." The dog barks as the brothers walk around the dune and Elena can faintly make out Stefan's voice muttering something about blood, but she isn't sure.

"We just gonna forget the whole thing ever happened," Alaric's voice brings her back to the conversation as he shakes his head. Elena, situated on a rock with her tail curled up under her, sighs as she watches Damon and Stefan walks off. "The Sea-King will never know. You won't tell him."

Anna nods in agreement. She looks up at her friend with sad eyes, knowing the hurt will be there later once she realizes that she may never see that man again. They come from two different worlds; there is no possibility of them being together.

"I won't tell him," Alaric seems to be saying the words to reassure himself more than to reassure the others. "I will stay in one piece."

Elena has positioned herself on top of a rock watching Damon longingly. "I don't know when, I don't know how," she sang, almost as if she wishes her voice can reach his ears. "But I know something's starting right now." Her eyes fill with salty tears and she takes a shuddering breath before she continues. "Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be, part of your… world."

She slips off into the ocean just as Damon rounds the corner, his vampire hearing picking up on the voice again. All he sees is the flick of lilac colored scales before the large tail slips back under the water.

**So I just have to say that this scene turned out different than I expected, but we see a few elements of Damon's vampire nature even if Elena doesn't. I added the last part because I wanted Damon to see a hint of what was below the surface, but not enough to recognize Elena. The color of her tail will transfer over to the dress she wears on land (I won't tell you in what scene!), so Damon will get confused. Please don't forget to review!**

**P.S. Who else likes Klaus as a puppy?!**


	4. In Love?

While Princess Elena is watching Prince Damon being taken back to his palace, the princess is being watched by the sea witch and her two pets. The brunette witch laughs wickedly at the events happening before her eyes.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I can't stand it! It's too easy!" the cecaelia witch cackles and claps her hands together. "The child is in love with a human. And not just any human. A prince!" She continues to laugh as she moves around her cavern of a home. "Her daddy'll love that. King Elijah's headstrong, lovesick girl would make a charming addition to my little garden." She turns to look at all of the mermaids she's trapped over the years and turned to shriveled up worms stuck to the floor.

* * *

The next day, Elena and her sisters are preparing for the day ahead. However, Elena is taking a longer time in the washroom than her sisters would have liked.

"Elena, dear, time to come out," the eldest daughter, Jenna, calls out to her sister. "You've been in there all morning." Elena emerges, singing to herself. There's a small smile on her face and her eyes look almost glassy with an emotion the sisters can't decipher.

"What is with her lately?" the second eldest, Caroline, asks, tilting her head to the side.

Elena looks at herself in the mirror, before she picks a flower next to it and swims away. She stops short when she sees her father in the doorway to the room. "Morning, Daddy," she greets her father as she tucks the flower next to her father's ear and swims off, continuing to sing to herself.

"Oh, she's got it bad," Bonnie, the second youngest, smiles as she puts her brush down and swims over

"What?" Elijah looks startled, wondering if his daughter is sick. "What has she got?"

"Isn't it obvious, Daddy?" Caroline says with a smile on her face. "Elena's in love."

"Elena?" Elijah breaths, his eyes filled with confusion as he picks the flower from the side of his ear. "In love?"

Meanwhile, Alaric is pacing on a rock, hoping that the king of Atlantis has not found out about his youngest daughter's antics the previous night. "Okay, so far so good," he mumbles to himself, "it's going to be very hard to keep something like this a secret for long." While he paced, a flower petal drops over his face as Elena sits daydreaming and picking petals off of flowers in hopes that they will tell her in Prince Damon loves her.

"He loves me…" she chants the small child's rhyme, "he loves me not…" She pulls off the last petal and cries happily. "He loves me!"

"Elena, would you stop acting like a child for once," Alaric chastises her, shaking a claw in her face.

"I have to see him again," Elena exclaims excitedly, "tonight." She pouts before her eyes brighten again. "Jeremy knows where he lives."

"Elena, please!" Alaric shouts, desperate to deter the girl from her foolish quest. "Will you get your head out of the clouds and back in the water where it belongs?"

"I'll swim up to Prince Damon's castle, then Anna will splash around and then I'll—" Elena conintes, only for the crab to interrupt her again.

"Elena, listen to me. The human world is a mess. Life under the sea is better than anything they got up there." He begins to sing as all of the reef fish join in, trying to prove the princess that the Upperworld is worse than being down under the sea.

_The seaweed is always greener_

_In somebody else's lake_

_You dream about going up there_

_But that is a big mistake_

_Just look at the world around you_

_Right here on the ocean floor_

_Such wonderful things surround you_

_What more is you lookin' for?_

_Under the sea_

_Under the sea_

_Darling it's better_

_Down where it's wetter_

_Take it from me_

_Up on the shore they work all day_

_Out in the sun they slave away_

_While we devotin'_

_Full time to floatin'_

_Under the sea_

_Down here all the fish is happy_

_As off through the waves they roll_

_The fish on the land ain't happy_

_They sad 'cause they in their bowl_

_But fish in the bowl is lucky_

_They in for a worse fate_

_One day when the boss get hungry_

_Fish: Guess who gonna be on the plate?_

_Under the sea_

_Under the sea_

_Nobody beat us_

_Fry us and eat us_

_In fricassee_

_We what the land folks loves to cook_

_Under the sea we off the hook_

_We got no troubles_

_Life is the bubbles_

_Under the sea_

_Under the sea_

_Since life is sweet here_

_We got the beat here_

_Naturally_

_Even the sturgeon an' the ray_

_They get the urge 'n' start to play_

_We got the spirit_

_You got to hear it_

_Under the sea_

_The newt play the flute_

_The carp play the harp_

_The plaice play the bass_

_And they soundin' sharp_

_The bass play the brass_

_The chub play the tub_

_The fluke is the duke of soul_

_Fluke: Yeah! _

_The ray he can play_

_The lings on the strings_

_The trout rockin' out_

_The blackfish she sings_

_The smelt and the sprat_

_They know where it's at_

_An' oh that blowfish blow_

_Under the sea_

_Under the sea_

_When the sardine_

_Begin the beguine_

_It's music to me_

_What do they got? _

_A lot of sand_

_We got a hot crustacean band_

_Each little clam here_

_Know how to jam here_

_Under the sea_

_Each little slug here_

_Cuttin' a rug here_

_Under the sea_

_Each little snail here_

_Know how to wail here_

_That's why it's hotter_

_Under the water_

_Ya we in luck here_

_Down in the muck here_

_Under the sea_

While Alaric is singing with the rest of the fish, Anna sneaks up and drags Elena away. The song finishes its crescendo and Alaric looks around for the princess, only to find her gone. "Elena?" he calls out before rolling his eyes. "Somebody's got to nail that girl's fins to the floor."

"Alaric!" a voice calls as a seahorse comes swimming up to the rock Alaric is on. "Alaric, I've been looking everywhere for you. I have an urgent request from the king." Alaric gulps. "Something about Elena!" Alaric, if he was mer, would have paled, but instead he just shakes his claws around before his eyes widened.

"He knows…" he breathes.

* * *

In the throne room, the king sits on his throne, thinking about his youngest daughter's actions this morning. There's a knock on the door outside the throne room and he calls Alaric inside. The crab is mumbling to himself that he won't rat the princess out, but fear is making him stutter.

"Your Highness," Alaric bows as he walks over to the throne and swims up beside the king.

"Alaric, I'm concerned about Elena," he starts, putting his head on his hand. "Have you noticed she's been acting peculiar lately?"

"Oh! Uh, peculiar?" his voice is shaky and he hopes the king doesn't notice. He doesn't.

"You know, mooning about, daydreaming, singing to herself," Elijah lists off. "You haven't noticed, hmm?"

"Oh, well I..." Alaric starts.

"Alaric," Elijah warns.

"Hmm?"

"I know you've been keeping something from me."

"Keeping something?"

"About Elena?"

"Elena?" Alaric squeaks, trying to stop his knees from shaking.

"In love? Hmm?" Elijah looks him right in the eye.

"I tried to stop her, sir!" Alaric cracks. "She wouldn't listen! I told her to stay away from humans! They are bad! They are trouble! They are..."

"Humans?" Elijah growls. " What about humans?"

"Humans?" Alaric chuckles nervously, "who said anything about humans?" He tries to swim away but is caught by the king's hand.

* * *

Anna leads her best friend toward their secret cave, a huge smile on her face. "Elena, keep your eyes closed," the raven haired girl laughs when she sees brown eyes peeking.

"Why can't you just tell me what you found?" Elena asks, her voice quivering with excitement.

"You'll see in a minute," Anna shakes her head, "it's a surprise." Anna leads her inside the grotto and tells her to open her eyes. The brunette gasps when she sees the obsidian statue of Damon that had been on the Royal ship of Mysteria.

"Oh!" she wraps her arms around her friend in a tight hug. "Anna, you're the best friend I could ever ask for!" Her eyes are sparkling with joy as the two mermaids twirl around the statue. Elena swims up to the statue and caresses the face and strong jaw." It looks just like him. It even has his eyes," she whispers as she points to the two inlaid sapphires sparkling in the sunlight coming through the skylight. "'Why, Damon, run away with you? This is all so - so _sudden_...'" She spins around when she doesn't hear the expected laughter of her friend but instead she finds the angry eyes of her father cross the darkness of the cave.

"I consider myself a reasonable merman," he starts, a noticeable tick in his jaw. "I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed."

"But Dad, I..." Elena starts, her eyes wide with fear.

"Is it true you rescued a human from drowning?" Elijah questions with a snarl.

"Daddy, I had to..." she tries to reason with him, but he interrupts her again.

"Contact between the human world and the mer world is strictly forbidden, Elena, you know that! Everyone knows that."

"He would have died," Elena cries.

"One less human to worry about!" Elijah yells back, a scoff in his tone.

"You don't even know him," Elena retorts.

"Know him?" Elijah laughs, shaking his head at the naiveté of his daughter. "I don't have to know him, they're all the same! Spineless, savage, harpooning fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling of..."

Anger clouds Elena's vision as her father goes on and on about why humans are bad. She wants to stop him so she does it the only way she can think of, choosing to shout, "Daddy, I love him!" She gasps, putting her hands over her mouth, surprised that she has just confessed a private thought to the man who hates the one she loves.

"No! Have you lost your senses completely?" Elijah roars. "He's a human, you're a mermaid!

"I don't care," Elena cries, tears spilling down her cheeks to mix with the salt water around her.

"So help me, Elena, I am going to get through to you; and if this is the only way, so be it!" Elijah shouts the words at her as his triton begins to glow a soft golden color. He begins to destroy all of the things that Elena and Anna have worked so hard to collect. Elena cries out to her father, trying to stop him, but he pushes her off and continues.

It's as if hours have gone by until there is nothing left to destroy but the statue of Prince Damon. It's the only thing Elena has left; however, Elijah points his trident at it and it burst into pieces. Now everything is gone and, as King Elijah's trident stops glowing, Elena falls to the floor and begins sobbing uncontrollably. Elijah turns his nose up at his youngest daughter and swims back to the palace.

Alaric walks up to the crying merprincess and sees that she has managed to salvage one of the sapphire stones that were Damon's eyes.

"Elena?" he asks softly, trying to get her attention.

"I don't want to talk!" Elena answers in tears, so Alaric and Anna leave her alone to sob.

**Uh-oh... Elena's pissed! So we've had a small moment with the sisters, so the sea witch can't be them. Also, if you guys were wondering a cecaelia is what Ursala is in technical mythology terms... half woman, half octopus or squid. Just a little mythology lesson. Please review.**

**P.S. I've created a new poll for the story that is after Beauty and the Beast, because those two are tied. Please vote!**


	5. Poor Unfortunate Soul

As Anna and Alaric leave Elena by herself, the cecaelia's minions, swim up to the princess of Atlantis slowly. Their shadows loom over her, but she doesn't care to notice until the darker of the eels begins talking to her.

"Poor child. Poor, sweet child," he hisses and the voice make her shudder. "She has a very serious problem. If only there was something we could do. But there is something."

"Who-who are you?" Elena stutters, blinking back tears.

"Don't be scared. We represent someone who can help you. Someone who can make all your dreams come true," the lighter one hisses in her ear as they begin to move around her, circling her like vultures. "Just imagine... You and your Prince... together... forever."

"I don't understand," Elena sniffles.

"Katherine has great powers," the darker one hisses again.

"The sea witch? Why, that's-I couldn't possibly-no!" Elena cries, waving her hands to get them away from her. "Get out of here! Leave me alone!"

"Suit yourself. It was only a suggestion," the lighter one says.

They begin to swim away and the lighter eel flicks the broken statue's face towards Elena. She stiffens when she sees that the other crystal eye is missing, the nose is broken, and the chin scratches her hand. "Wait!" she calls out to them.

"Yeeeeeeeeess?" the two eels hiss in tandem.

Meanwhile, Anna and Alaric are waiting a few paces beyond the grotto. "Poor Elena," Anna sighs.

"I didn't mean to tell him," Alaric tries to justify himself; "you know I can't keep my mouth shut for ten minutes!" Suddenly, they see Elena following the two eels out of the now desolate grotto. "Elena, where are you going?" He swims up to her and observes that she is swimming with Mason and Tyler, the two evil henchmen of the cecaelia. "Elena, what are you doing here with this riffraff?"

"I'm going to see Katherine," Elena deadpans, as if she has no emotions left.

Alaric's eyes widen and he gasps. "Elena, no! No!" He begins tugging on her tail fin, trying to pull her back. "She's a demon! She's a monster!"

"Why don't you go tell my father?" Elena snarls at him; her eyes are filled not with hate, but with hurt, as if she still can't believe that Alaric would tell her father. "You're good at that!" She shakes him off with a powerful flick of her tail.

Anna catches him before he smashes against the nearest rock wall. "Come on," the royal advisor urges her on, "we've got to follow them!" Anna rolls her eyes but does as he says, allowing him to cling to her shoulder so that they can catch up faster. They continue to swim until they reach Katherine's cavern. It looks very unsettling, but Elena doesn't back down, due to her stubborn nature.

"Over here," Mason, the darker of the two eels, hisses as he directs her toward the mouth of the cave. Elena freezes when she sees the small sad eyes of what look like shriveled up sea anemones. They reach out for her and she struggles to get through the forest of them.

Suddenly a voice calls out, "Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn't lurk in doorways." The cecaelia swims out of the shadows, her dark purple octopus tentacles sticking to the wall as she moves. Elena's eyes widen in horror and her stomach curls. "It's rude. One might question your upbringing."

Elena stammers out the reason she's there, but Katherine just shakes her head, limp brown hair swirling around her head. If she didn't have octopus tentacles for a bottom half from all of the dark magic she loved to preform, she would have been one beautiful mermaid. "No matter, no matter," Katherine waves away her stammering with a delicate hand, "you're here because you have a little crush on a human, Prince Damon, if I'm correct." Elena nods sheepishly. "I don't blame you; he is quite a looker," Katherine almost purrs at the thought.

"I… I…" Elena tries to speak but Katherine makes her quiet with a finger to her lips.

"Well, angelfish, the solution to your problem is simple," she smiles maliciously at the young merprincess. "The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself."

"Can you do that?" Elena breathes.

"My dear, sweet child," Katherine giggles and it sends a shudder up Elena's spine. "That's what I do. It's what I live for, to help unfortunate merfolk, like yourself, poor souls with no one else to turn to."

_I admit that in the past I've been a nasty_

_They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch_

_But you'll find that nowadays_

_I've mended all my ways_

_Repented, seen the light, and made a switch_

_True? Yes._

_And I fortunately know a little magic_

_It's a talent that I always have possessed_

_And dear lady, please don't laugh_

_I use it on behalf_

_Of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed_

In her caldron she conjures a fat mermaid and a skinny merman. "Pathetic!" she whispers to Mason and Tyler.

_Poor unfortunate souls_

_In pain, in need_

_This one longing to be thinner_

_That one wants to get the girl_

_And do I help them?_

_Yes, indeed_

_Those poor unfortunate souls_

_So sad, so true_

_They come flocking to my cauldron_

_Crying, "Spells, Katherine, please!"_

_And I help them!_

_Yes I do_

"Have we got a deal?" Katherine asks as she snaps her and the pair become fit and hugs each other. Elena watches with wide eyes.

_Now it's happened once or twice_

_Someone couldn't pay the price_

_And I'm afraid I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals_

Elena gasps when the vision turns into seaweed people like the ones in the entrance of the cavern.

_Yes, I've had the odd complaint_

_But on the whole I've been a saint_

_To those poor unfortunate souls_

"Now, here's the deal," Katherine starts, and Elena wrings her hands together. Alaric and Anna watch with wide eyes just past the entrance. "I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. Got that?" She gestures with her fingers. "_Three_ days. Now listen, this is important. Before the sun sets on the third day, you've got to get dear ol' princey to fall in love with you. That is, he's got to kiss you. Not just any kiss - the kiss of true love." Katherine shakes her head and her eyes are filled with fake sadness. "If he does kiss you before the sun sets on the third day, you'll remain human, permanently, but - if he doesn't, you turn back into a mermaid, and - you belong to me!"

"So, do we have a deal?" Katherine asks eagerly.

"If I become human," Elena thinks out loud, her eyes shut in thought, "I'll never be with my father or sisters again."

"That's _right_," Katherine nods her head. "But - you'll have your man. Life's full of tough choices, innit?" Elena nods and bites her lip, still debating on whether to sign or not. Katherine's next words stop her in her tracks. "Oh, and there is one more thing. We haven't discussed the subject of payment." She shakes her head. "You can't get something for nothing, you know."

"But I don't have any..." she starts before she looks down at the sapphire she's been holding onto this whole time, but doesn't say anything because she wants to keep it close.

"I'm not asking much. Just a token really, a trifle," Katherine reassures her and Elena freezes, thinking she's talking about the sapphire until she continues. " You'll never even miss it. What I want from you is..." the cecaelia pauses for effect, "your voice."

"My voice?" Elena blinks, completely baffled at the request. Her voice is everything to her.

Katherine nods her head. "You got it, sweetcakes. No more talking, singing, zip." She moves her hand to make a zipping motion across her lips before they curl into a malicious smirk.

"But without my voice, how can I..." she stammers, touching her throat gently.

"You'll have your looks... your pretty face..." Katherine smiles, pinching Elena's cheeks, "and don't underestimate the importance of 'bo-dy lan-guage.'" She moves her hips from side to side and laughs.

_The men up there don't like a lot of blabber_

_They think a girl who gossips is a bore!_

_Yet on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word_

_And after all dear, what is idle babble for?_

_Come on, they're not all that impressed with conversation_

_True gentlemen avoid it when they can_

_But they dote and swoon and fawn_

_On a lady who's withdrawn_

_It's she who holds her tongue who gets a man_

_Come on you poor unfortunate soul_

_Go ahead!_

_Make your choice!_

_I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day_

_It won't cost much_

_Just your voice!_

_You poor unfortunate soul_

_It's sad but true_

_If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet_

_You've got the pay the toll_

_Take a gulp and take a breath_

_And go ahead and sign the scroll_

Elena reaches out for the pen and scratches her signature out on the paper before both the pen and paper disappear.

_Mason, Tyler, now I've got her, boys_

_The boss is on a roll_

_This poor unfortunate soul_

Katherine goes back to her caldron and begins to throw stuff inside of it.

"_Beluga sevruga_

_Come winds of the Caspian Sea_

_Larengix glaucitis _

_Et max laryngitis_

_La voce to me_," Katherine chants in a strange language before she turns back to Elena, who hasn't moved an inch. "Now, sing!"

The merprincess begins to sing and two smoky hands reach out from the caldron. Her voice glows in her throat and, as Anna and Alaric watch in horror at what the princess has done, the hands reach her throat. Elena shivers at the touch and moves to close her mouth before Katherine cries, "Keep singing!" So she does. Suddenly, the hands retract with a small glowing ball and, as Elena watches, Katherine snags the sapphire from her hands and places the light inside the sapphire. The sea witch laughs manically before she continues with her chanting, her voice rising as she says the end of the spell.

Elena's eyes widen and her mouth opens in a silent scream as her tail rips in half while the fins and scales fade away to create smooth skin. The magic vanishes and princess' eyes bug out as she tries not to breathe in the water that used to give her oxygen. Anna swims forward and wraps her arms around Elena, towing her toward the surface. Alaric helps by tilting her head up so that she can breathe when they get to the surface. Elena jumps up from under the water, gasping for breath, and Anna helps her as she swims toward the shore.

**Katherine is the witch! Most people have already assumed she was and I wasn't going to make Bonnie evil! I hope this chapter was good! Please review and vote on the story to be posted after Beauty and the Beast is finished. Next chapter, Damon meets Elena.  
**


	6. On Human Legs!

Prince Damon and Nik are out for their daily walk on the beach and the prince is thinking about the girl who saved his life from the shipwreck days ago. "That voice, I can't stop thinking about it, it was so… beautiful." He speaks to himself as he throws a stick for Nik to chase. He throws his hands up in the air in frustration. "I've looked throughout Mysteria and I just can't find her!"

Not too far away from where the prince sits, Elena is resting on a rock with Anna and Alaric close by. Once Elena catches her breathe, she sighs.

"Just look at her!" Alaric cries, pointing to the tan skin of Elena's new legs. "On legs! On human legs!" he shudders. Elena pulls one foot out of the water and wiggles her toes, her shoulders shaking with an empty giggle.

"My nerves are shot. This is a catastrophe! What would her father say? I'll tell you what her father'd say. He'd say he's gonna kill himself a crab, that's what her father'd say! I'm gonna march myself home and tell him right this minute!" Alaric rants for a minute and it about to say something else when Elena scoops him up from the rock and starts shaking her head frantically, her doe eyes wide. "And _don't_ you shake your head at me, young lady! Maybe there's still time. If we could get that witch to give you back your voice, you could go home with all the normal fish and just be..." Elena's face falls, "just be... just be miserable for the rest of your life." He sighs in defeat. "Alright, alright" he reassures her, "I'll try to help you find that prince."

Elena beams at him and kisses him on the cheek. "Boy, what a softshell I'm turning out to be," he chuckles when he sees Elena examining the rest of her new lower half.

"Well, look at what the catfish dragged in!" Jeremy calls as he flies down and lands on the nearest rock. He chuckles to himself at the joke. "Look at ya! Look at ya! There's something different. Don't tell me. I got it. It's your hairdo, right? You've been using the dinglehopper, right?" Elena shakes her head. "No? No, huh? Well, let me see. New... seashells? No new seashells. I gotta admit, I can't put my foot on it right now, but if I just stand here long enough, I should..."

Alaric interrupts him before he can guess again. "She's got legs, you idiot! She traded her voice to the sea witch and got legs! Geez, man!"

"I knew that," Jeremy bobs his head.

"Elena's been turned into a human," Anna adds to the conversation, hugging her best friend from behind. She'll have to make the prince fall in love with her, and he's gotta-he's gotta kiss her.

"And she's only got three days!" the crab says, his voice filled with panic.

Elena tries to stand up but her knees wobble and she falls back to the floor, managing to scratch her palm on a sharp rock. She cries out in silent pain and Anna rushes over to her, wrapping her cut in nearby seaweed.

"Well, now the first thing about humans, is that you've got to cover up yourself," Jeremy starts, "they don't like to see each other without their drapes on, it makes them sick." He flies over to where there is a leftover sail from the wreck and begins to wrap it around her. They use rope to keep the whole thing together.

Meanwhile, Damon and Nik continue to walk along the sand and Damon continues to throw the stick for the puppy. Suddenly, Nik looks up and shoots off into the distance, where there is a figure seated on a rock. Elena, who is the shadow on the rock, watches as the small golden bundle of fur rushes toward her and she scrambles shakily up the rock, gaining scrapes and bruises on her way up. Nik jumps up and down, trying to get to her.

"Nik, where are you, boy?" Damon calls as Nik finally gives up and races back to his master. "What did you see?" He looks up to see Elena sitting there with fear in her big doe eyes and her eyes focused on Nik.

"Oh, now I see," he pats Nik on the head before he moves over to where Elena is sitting on top of the rock. "Are you alright, Miss?" he calls out to her, not wanting to scare her. The girl doesn't say anything, just blinks at him. "Miss?"

He watches as a beautiful blush stains her cheeks and she beams at him, but doesn't say anything. He rubs her throat and opens her mouth but no sounds come out. Elena's so focused on trying to mime talking that she begins to fall off of the rock. She lets out a silent scream, but warm arms wrap around her and she looks up to see the ocean in his eyes, very close to her face.

"Take it easy," Damon jokes, pressing the mystery lady to his chest to steady her. "Gee, you must have really been through something." Elena smiles at him and pulls away, trying to walk on wobbly legs that don't seem to want to work yet. He chuckles and picks her up bridal style, making her blush. He can hear her heart pounding out an unfamiliar rhythm in her chest and can smell the blood from her cuts, but he ignores the bloodlust and smiles down at her. She blinks up at him as a small, shy smile appears on her own face as she wraps her arms around his neck.

Elena's stomach is fluttering like the wings of a flying fish as she wraps her arms around Damon's neck and snuggles into his side. She feels safe and warm and happy. She presses one hand to his chest, looking for the safety of a heartbeat but, finding none, she frowns and looks up at him, tilting her head to the side. '_Why doesn't he have a heartbeat?_' Elena thinks to herself. '_I thought all humans had heartbeats._' But she can't ask him, so she just settles herself into his arms.

* * *

Elena sits in a bath of bubbles as one of the castle maids cleans her up. She gathers the bubbles in her hands, and silently gasps to see them disappear in her grasp. The maid is going on and on about how she's lucky that Damon found her but all Elena can think about are his eyes. The sapphires from the statue didn't even compare to how much the ocean is in his eyes. It makes her think of home and a seed of guilt settles in her mind before she pushes it away.

"I'll just wash this for you," the maid says with a smile that hides her disgust. She tosses the sail into a tub of detergent with Alaric still in the pocket of it. He coughs out soap as three other maids of the palace wash the clothes. They are yammering about the new girl Damon found on the beach. Once of them soaks the rags under water and pulls them up on a conveyer like contraption. The maid then brings it outside to be hung on a line. As Alaric is being swung on the line in the pocket of the sail, he jumps. Unfortunately, he jumps right into the kitchen of the palace. He looks up and gasps when he sees the glassy eyes of a dead fish; he almost faints when he sees what they are having for supper… stuffed crab.

* * *

In the dining room, Prince Damon and Stefan are talking about the girl Damon had seen from the shipwreck that saved his life. "Come on, Damon, girls don't just swim around in the ocean rescuing people," Stefan rolls his eyes, "and then just disappears out of thin air."

"I'm telling you, Stef, I saw her, she was real," Damon retorts with a smirk. "I'm gonna find her, and I'm gonna marry her." Stefan chuckles and pats his brother on the back. Suddenly, both look up when they hear heels walking down the hallway and Damon recognizes the mystery girl's strange heartbeat.

"Come on, sweetheart," the old maid encourages Elena, who is finding it hard to walk in heels. She stumbles and blushes when she feels two pairs of eyes on her. "Don't be shy." Elena steps out from the hallway in a beautiful light purple dress, guided by the maid.

"Well, Damon, doesn't she look great?" Stefan asks with a smile on his face as Elena wobbles toward them. The brunette blushes when she sees Damon looking at her and his eyes are stormy blue.

"Yeah," Damon says in a low, husky voice, "you look amazing."

Elena flushes and wobbles toward Damon, dipping her head in a thank you. She trips over her foot and begins to fall, but suddenly there's a breeze where there shouldn't be one and Damon is there to scoop her up. "Watch your step," he jokes and she shakes her head, a silent laugh on her lips. She pouts and glares down at her heels. "Do you want me to get you easier shoes to walk in?"

She nods and he orders the maid to get her a pair of sneakers. Damon leads her over to her chair and sits her down, slipping the heels off and slipping on the sneakers. "There," he smiles up at her, "you should be able to walk easier now." The sneakers are black with wide siding and have a star on the side. She can't read the word, but she smiles anyway and wraps her arms around Damon's neck in a thank you.

Stefan watches his brother interact with the strange girl and smiles. He has never seen the man quite taken with a lady before nor seen him taken with one that cannot speak. He smiles at the mysterious lady and pulls out her chair for her, to which she smiles at him with a small blush on her cheeks.

Elena waits for Damon and Stefan to sit down before she looks down at her plate. Her eyes widen when she sees a dinglehopper sitting on the table. '_Maybe humans brush their hair before they eat?_' she thinks as she picks up the object and begins to brush it through her hair. Damon and Stefan watch her with wide eyes, both thinking that she is a strange maiden indeed.

"What is she doing?" Stefan asks Damon, loud enough for Elena to hear. She looks up to see them giving her strange glances, so she sets down the human object with an embarrassed blush.

Stefan pulls out his pipe, ready to watch the scene before him, when Elena points curiously to the pipe in his hand. Her eyes sparkle with curiosity. "Would you like to try it?" the blond offers her the pipe. She blows hard on it, making smoke explode from the other end in Stefan's face. Damon lets out a hearty laugh and Elena puts the snarfblatt down with a blush staining her cheeks. He can hear her heart beating rapidly in her chest and he wants to reach out and sooth her, but it would be improper of him.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Alaric peaks out from a vase to see the chef take out a bowl of raw, dead fish from the fridge as he sings. The chef chops off the heads and pulls out the bones; Alaric watches in horror through his claw. It is like watching a horror film! He sneaks up around the table, but he is cut off by a fish head landing right in front of him. He tries to get away and hides under a leaf lettuce while he still crawls across the counter. As the chef is slathering the fish in salt, he turns around to notice the lettuce leaf on the counter.

"_Zut alors_!" the chef cries, "I have missed one." He picks up Alaric and tosses him in a bowl of sauce and covers him in flour. After that, he throws the crab into a pot of water. Alaric grasps onto the sides of the pot as a bubble pops, causing him to fall back onto the counter. The chef turns around after grabbing a crab fork to notice that the crab is on the counter again.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" he asks as he picks up Alaric with the fork. Suddenly, the crab pinches his nose and jumps beside another boiling pot. As dumb as it is, the chef tries to grab Alaric but the pot tips over and fell into his feet. He screams as the scalding water hits him but the burns fade and he grabs all of his cutting knives and begin throwing them to try and get the crab. This continues on for some time and by the time the chef is exhausted with trying to chase Alaric, everyone in the dining room has heard the commotion.

* * *

Back in the dining room, Stefan is suggesting something to Damon for the following day. "Maybe our new friend here would like to see some of the sights of Mysteria," he suggests. "Like a tour or something. You can't spend your time hanging around here all day. You need to get out there again." He smiles at Elena as he lifts up the cover of his plate to reveal Alaric sitting there. Elena's eyes widen and she gestures for Alaric to crawl onto her plate.

"That is the best idea you've had in a long time, brother," Damon smiles and chuckles, "but I cannot just leave my affairs for the day."

"I will watch over the estate in your absence," Stefan reassures his brother. "You'll only be gone for the day and evening if you want to dine out." As Stefan and Damon continue to talk, Elena motions for him to crawl over to her plate. She lifts the lid just enough for him to slip under when Damon suddenly tunes to her.

"Well, what do you say?" he smirks at her and she gets lost in his ocean eyes. "Would you like to join me on a tour of my kingdom tomorrow?" Elena nods in delight, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"Wonderful!" Stefan claps his hands together. "Now, let's eat before this crab wanders off my plate." He puts his fork down onto his plate and is surprised to hear a clinking noise; the crab, Alaric, has indeed wandered off his plate.

* * *

That night, Elena spins around in her bedroom with a huge smile. She launches herself at the bed and jumps up and down. Alaric shakes his head and crawls onto the nightstand. "This has got to be, without a doubt, the single most humiliating day of my life!" Elena pats him on the head, trying to comfort him.

"I hope that you appreciate what I go through for you, young lady! Now, we got to make a plan to get that boy to kiss you. Tomorrow, when he takes you for that ride, you gotta look your best!"

He moves to stand close to her. "You gotta bat your eyes, like this." He does as he instructs, but Elena lets out an empty laugh at his face. "You gotta pucker up your lips, like this..." He does that as well but when Elena doesn't move, he looks down to see her face buried in a pillow. Her even breathing tells him that she is fast asleep. He sighs, and blows out the candle before settling down in the crook of her arm. "You are hopeless, child. You know that. Completely hopeless."

**Damon's takin' Elena out on a date tomorrow, and Stefan is 100% a DE shipper in this story, unlike Katherine. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the actual date leading up to _Kiss the Girl_ so I need to hear from you guys if you wanna see a DE afternoon on the town (like in the movie), or just a DE dinner and boat ride. Please tell me and review!**


	7. Kiss the Girl

Below the surface, King Elijah looks out the window of his private office to see Shane, the royal messenger, return from yet another search party. "Any sign of them?" he asks with a weary sigh.

"No, Your Majesty," Shane shook his head. "We searched everywhere. We've found no trace of your daughter or Alaric." He runs a hand through his hair and flicks his tail nervously.

"Well, keep looking," Elijah orders. "Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored, and let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home." The King's worry for his daughter could be felt by all ocean creatures. The tides and eddies were changing with his mood and people fear that a storm is brewing.

"Yes, sire," Shane bows his head and swims back to his troop to inform them.

"Oh, what have I done?" Elijah hangs his head in shame. "What have I done?"

* * *

Precisely at noon the next morning, Rose, the maid attending Elena, stands side by side with Stefan as they watch the couple drive off into the town. "Let's hope they don't get into too much trouble," Rose smiles up at the blond prince. He chuckles and they walk back inside to continue their day.

Elena's eyes sparkle as she watches Damon maneuver the strange carriage contraption through the flat roads. With just a flick of the wrist, he makes the creatures she's learned are horses move faster. Once they are far enough away in the country, Damon lets Elena take the reins. The brunette smiles up at him before flicking her wrist just like he did before, but she ends up making them race across the flat space. She screams in delight, her heart beating wildly in her chest as Damon takes back the reigns to slow the horses dawn.

"So, what do you—" Damon starts but he turns around to see Elena looking underneath the carriage at the horses feet. Chuckling, he wraps an arm around her waist so she can sit back up.

When they cross a bridge, Anna swims up to the path, trying to get a good look at them, she manages to talk to Alaric for a minute.

"Have they kissed yet?" the black haired girl asks eagerly.

"Not yet," the crab admits.

"Shoot!" Anna snaps her fingers.

The carriage rattles over the bridge and into town. Elena smiles and points out different things that Damon's seen before, but he acts excited for her sake. She drags him over to where a puppet show is being performed and, after a few minutes, walks up to the stage and took the puppet right off of the puppeteer's hand. All Damon can do is smile and laugh along with her. The brunette, full of so much excitement, drags the prince to the town square, where music is playing. She drags him into a dance, but it's obvious she doesn't know _how_ to dance. So Damon pulls her into his arms, slowing her movements and making her head spin in happiness.

"I'm so glad you're having fun," Damon whispers in her ear and she beams at him before resting her head on his shoulder. She buries her face in the comfort of his strong body and presses a 'thank you' kiss to his neck, so delicate that it feels like a butterfly's wing.

A while later, after Elena has dragged Damon to every single store in town, Jeremy lands next to Anna and asks her if they've kissed yet. The mermaid watches her friend and shakes her head. "They'd better hurry up!" Jeremy shouts as he takes off.

Damon lets Elena take the reins on the carriage, but he wraps his arms around her so that they are both holding on and whispers in her ear. Her heart is pounding loudly in her chest, but it doesn't sound like a normal human heartbeat. Focusing in on it, the prince realizes that it's _not_ in fact a _human_ heartbeat, but it doesn't match up with any supernatural he's met before.

* * *

Later that night, after the sun has set, Damon takes Elena out for a moonlit boat ride on the nearest lake. Anna and Jeremy watch them and the only sound is of the bugs in the trees. "Move your feathers, Jer, I can't see them!" Anna whispers as she pushes the seagull.

"Nothin's happenin' yet," Jeremy argues. "One day left and that boy still hasn't attempted a kiss once!" The seagull's eyes glint in determination as he flies over to situate himself on a tree branch over the couple; he sings loudly and off-key, "Wa wa wa, wa wa!"

"Wow," Damon looks up at the bird before turning to Elena, "somebody should find that poor animal and put it out of its misery." The brunette covers her mouth with her hand to hide a silent giggle, but her shoulders are shaking in happiness. She shakes her head at the familiar bird and glares playfully at him.

"Jeez, man, I'm surrounded by amateurs," Alaric rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "You want something done; you've got to do it yourself." So, speaking in a low, seductive voice, he says, "First, we've to create 'da mood." Transitioning from speech to song, he continues, "Percussion. Strings. Winds. Words." All of the animals in the lake join him as they make the setting more and more romantic.

_There you see her_

_Sitting there across the way_

_She don't got a lot to say_

_But there's something about her_

_And you don't know why_

_But you're dying to try_

_You wanna kiss the girl_

_Yes, you want her_

_Look at her, you know you do_

_Possible she wants you too_

_There is one way to ask her_

_It don't take a word_

_Not a single word_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

Elena's eyes sparkle in the glow from the millions of fireflies surrounding the boat and Damon smiles at her. "You know," he leans forward on his elbow, "I feel really bad not knowing your name. Maybe I can guess." Elena nods eagerly, her chocolate eyes flashing again. "Is it, uh... Mildred?" The prince watches as the brunette's nose wrinkles in disgust and chuckles.

"Okay, no," Damon frowns, concentrating on finding a name. "How about Diana?" Elena shakes her head again. "Rachel?" The girl tilts her head to the side, looking at him like he's crazy.

Alaric leans over on a reed of grass as the boat floats by and whispers, "Elena. Her name's Elena."

"Elena?" Damon blinks. Elena nods enthusiastically, twisting a lock between her fingers. "Elena? Oh. That's kind of pretty. Okay, Elena." He smiles at her again and chuckles. "It means light in Latin, and you're definitely epitome of light." Elena beams at him, a silent giggle on her lips as he continues to row.

_Sha la la la la la_

_My oh my_

_Look like the boy too shy_

_Ain't gonna kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Ain't that sad?_

_Ain't it a shame?_

_Too bad, he gonna miss the girl_

_Now's your moment_

_Floating in a blue lagoon_

_Boy you better do it soon_

_No time will be better_

_She don't say a word_

_And she won't say a word_

_Until you kiss the girl_

The boat floats into a blue lagoon and the entire lake lights up with color and music as fish and other creatures surround the boat. The brunette watches with wide eyes as the prince's own grew stormy but still held some of their previous calm.

_Sha la la la la la_

_Don't be scared_

_You got the mood prepared_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Don't stop now_

_Don't try to hide it how_

_You want to kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Float along_

_And listen to the song_

_The song say kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la_

_The music play_

_Do what the music say_

_You got to kiss the girl_

_You've got to kiss the girl_

"Elena…" Damon whispers as the music begins to slow down. He reaches out to grab her and her head snaps up to look from their hands to his face. He begins to lean in and she's screaming in the back of her mind, but a small smile flitters across her face.

_You wanna kiss the girl_

_You've gotta kiss the girl_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

Down in the cecaelia's cavern, Katherine watches Damon and Elena in her viewing mirror. She scowls as she sees the almost kiss, and laughs when Mason and Tyler knock over the boat. "Nice work boys," she sneers. "That was a close one... too close!" She watches as Damon helps a floundering Elena back to the shore. "_THE LITTLE TRAMP_!"

She sighs as she swims over to her wall of ingredients. "Well, she's better than I thought. At this rate, he'll be kissing her by sunset for sure!" The brunette cecaelia smashes through her potions, a scowl painting her face. "Well, it's time Katherine took matters into her _own_ tentacles." She pulls out a bottle with a butterfly in in and throws it into the caldron, where it shatters and swallows the butterfly up. "Elijah's daughter will be mine!" She cackles as she continues throwing certain ingredients into the caldron. "And then I'll make him writhe." She smile, but it looks more like a snarl, and the anemone people cower below her tentacles. "_I'll see him wriggle like a worm on a HOOK!_" She laughs as she transforms herself in a beautiful brunette with chocolate colored eyes and a seductive pout. Katherine slips the sapphire eye over her head and settles it at the dip between her breasts. It glows softly with the beauty of Elena's voice trapped inside.

Later that night, Damon is playing a melancholic rendition of Elena's song on his flute as Stefan approaches. The blond second in command shakes his head. "Brother, if I may say, far better than any dream girl is one of flesh and blood," he puts a hand on his older brothers shoulder. "One warm, and caring, and right before your eyes." Stefan motions up towards Elena's bedroom window, and a smile cracks Damon's face. Elena is standing on her balcony, her arms resting on the edge as she watches the ocean with light eyes. She turns her head to see the prince looking at her and both men hear her heartbeat speed up and flutter like a caged bird. She smiles at him and waves before slowly walking back into her room, a smile spreading across her face.

In a moment of realization Damon throws his flute to the sea. He stands up and bids his brother goodbye as he leaves to speak to the lovely young maiden. Suddenly, he stops as he hears a familiar voice singing and sees a beautiful young woman walking the beach. The woman continues to sing and places the prince under a sort of spell.

* * *

The next morning, Jeremy flies happily around the castle in search of Elena's bedroom. He's almost exploding with happiness at the news that is very crucial to get Elena to transition into a human permanently.

"Elena!" he squawks. "Elena!" Jeremy flies into the open window of the guest room. "I have some great news!"

Jeremy goes on to tell them just how amazing it is without actually telling them what's happening. Alaric rolls his eyes and smacks the seagull on the leg. "What is it?" he growls; "spit it out!"

"Like you didn't know," Jeremy bobs his head. "The whole kingdom's talking about Prince Damon tying the knot this afternoon!" Elena tilts her head to the side in confusion. Why does he need to tie any knot? And why is so important to the kingdom?

"What are you blabbering about?" Alaric snaps at the eccentric bird.

"I mean he's getting' married!" Jeremy clarifies. "Good luck, Elena. I wouldn't miss it for the world!" The seagull flies out of the window with a squawk.

Elena's eyes widen and her body begins to hum as joy rushes through her veins. She picks up Alaric and spins him around the room until he looks green. When he is set down, Alaric glares at her but doesn't say anything. Elena, still in a haze of joy, quietly slips out of her room and down the long hallway to the main room. Right before the stairs, she hides behind the pillar and peeks around it.

"Well I'll be, Damon," Stefan chuckles. "I was wrong the whole time; this dream girl of yours actually does exist." Elena watches as Stefan pats his brother on the shoulder. "May I be the first to off your my congratulations."

"Thank you," a smooth voice that the brunette doesn't recognize. Her stomach instantly drops.

"We want to be married as soon as possible," Damon speaks up and Elena can feel the prickle of tears in her eyes.

"What?" Stefan eyes widen surprise. "These things take time, brother." The brunette listening at the top of the stairs whimpers softly and presses the heel of her hand to staunch the flow of tears.

"This afternoon, _brother_, the new Royal ship departs from the harbor," Damon instructs. "You either come with us, or stay here."

"Okay, Damon, you're the prince," Stefan holds up his hands to show his brother he means no harm. Elena's heart shatters as she hears this and she turns and flees back to her room to cry.

No one but the new girl, who is Katherine in disguise, notices. She laughs wicketdly as she bats her eyes and snuggles into Damon's side. He smiles down at her, a soft golden light shining in his glassy eyes.

**So we have the cute little outing. I was imagining more of _Tangled_ than I was of the actual _Little Mermaid_. Hopefully, you guys like this chapter. Alaric singing still makes me laugh every time. Poor Elena... and I guess we can say poor Damon (but not so much). Hopefully, everything turns out okay for her... ;) Please don't forget to review! Links to all dresses are on my profile!  
**

**P.S. The order for the remaining stories are: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hercules, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs**


	8. The Wedding

Later, the same afternoon that the prince is to be wedded, while everyone is rejoicing, laughing and talking on the Royal ship, the _Dawn Treader_, Elena stands on the dock watching the ship depart. She pulls herself toward a pillar at the edge of the dock with shaky legs and leans against it. _Her_ prince is on that ship with a strange woman, getting married before sun down. There'd be no way he'd kiss her now! After everything they'd been through, it looks as if he was just stringing her along. Elena slides down the pillar and sat with her head in her hands as she continues to cry.

Alaric crawls toward her and puts a claw on her leg, hoping to be of some comfort to his young charge. She picks him up and cradles him to her body as her eyes fill with hopelessness. There is no shine in them anymore, and the trickster that she once was is gone, along with her soul mate. Anna, who has been told the whole story, lifts herself to sit on the dock beside her friend. Elena leans into the raven haired mer's arms and sobs weakly as she mumbles incoherent words softly in her ear.

Meanwhile, Jeremy is flying blissfully close to the wedding barge, humming the Wedding March, when he hears the voice of the new mystery girl who has, quite literally, stolen Damon's heart overnight. He peeks into the porthole of the ship, right into her dressing room, where is 'Tatia' is singing to herself with Elena's voice.

"_What a lovely little bride I'll make_," she sings; "_my dear I'll look divine_." She chuckles and fluffs up her hair. "_Things are working out according to my ultimate design_." Jeremy, who has witnessed the entire scene, gulps. "_Soon I'll have that little mermaid… and the ocean will be mine!_" She laughs as she tilts the mirror toward her and Jeremy's eyes go wide. Tatia's reflection shows an image of Katherine.

Jeremy gasps. "The Sea Witch! Oh no... She's gonna... I gotta..." In his haste to get back to the mermaid, he flies into a nearby window by mistake. "_ELENA_!" He flaps his wings as fast as he can back to Elena and her friends. He tries to say something but all that comes out is a wheeze. Alaric rolls his eyes again.

"I was flyin', I - of course I was flyin' - and I saw that the watch... the _witch_, was watchin' in a mirror and she was singin' with a stolen set of pipes. Do you hear what I'm tellin' you?" Jeremy rambles on breathlessly, not making any sense. He sees this and picks up Alaric and slams him down on the pier with every other word.

"The prince... is marryin'... the sea witch... in disguise!"

Elena grabs Alaric from Jeremy's hands and rubs his shell. "Are you sure about this?" the crab asks with a suspicious glare in the seagull's direction.

"Have I ever been wrong?" Jeremy questions the three friends. Alaric opens his mouth to reply when the gull continues. "I mean when it's _important_!"

"So, what are we going to do?' Anna looks at her best friend. All of them turn to where the sun is beginning to set and remembers Katherine's words. She has to be kissed by sunset on the third day. Elena doesn't say anything, but she stands up and backs away from the pier before taking a running leap into the water. Alaric snips off a couple of barrels for the brunette to use as buoys.

"Anna, help Elena grab and barrels," Alaric instructs the young mergirl. "Get her to that ship as fast as possible!"

Anna nods. "I'll try my best!" Elena smiles weakly from where she's holding on to the barrel and mouths 'I love you' to her best friend. Anna's tail flicks under the water as she drags her friend toward the Royal ship.

"I have to get to King Elijah," Alaric panics, "he has to know about this!"

"What about me?" Jeremy asks, eager to help.

"You have to find a way to stall the wedding," Alaric orders him. The seagull salutes the crab and flies away, calling to his friends from the air and the sea to help him. They follow him across the ocean toward the wedding ship.

"Come on, guys!" he calls. "Elena needs our help!"

* * *

On the ship, Damon and 'Tatia', Katherine's chosen name for herself, begin walking down the aisle. Nik, who is sitting on the side next to Stefan, begins to growl in protest. However, Tatia just kicks him and the golden retriever limps away as Tatia smiles up at the prince. Once they reach the podium, the minister begins reciting from his book.

"Dearly beloved," he begins, "we are gathered here today to honor the union of Prince Damon and Tatia."

While the priest drones on, Anna continues to pull Elena along toward the wedding ship. "Don't you worry, Elena," she reassures her, "we'll make it!" The mermaid sounds out of breath but she struggles away.

Back on the ship, the minister continues reciting from the book he holds in his hand. "And do you, Prince Damon, take Tatia to be your wife as long as you both shall live?" he asks Damon.

"I do," the prince answers without hesitation, his eyes glowing a faint golden color.

"And do you—" the minister is cut off, when suddenly Jeremy and his friends fly in from above, heading straight for Tatia. She ducks just in time before they can attack, but when she stands up again, they return, attacking with even more ferocity. Nik begins barking loudly as the crowd of people panic and try to run below deck. Seals hop across the deck and pelicans dump water on Tatia's head. A crab grabs her nose before she pulls it off, only to have the crab replaced by a starfish. She peels the starfish off of her face and scowls.

"Get out of here!" she cries. "Go on, get!" But the animals continue their attack.

Below the ship, in the water, Anna and Elena smile when they hear Jeremy's loud cawing over the ruckus. Elena clings to the bobbing barrels until Anna puts an arm over her shoulder and leads her to the rope. Using the upper body strength that came with being a mermaid, the brunette manages to pull herself up onto the deck. She watches with a smile on her face from the sidelines as Tatia is tossed in the air by a seal and she lands right in the wedding cake. She stands up, only to fall back down again when Jeremy screams in her face.

"Go away!" she yells back, her hand rapidly moving back and forth in front of her face. Nik runs over, scrambling over sea animals and cake, to bite Tatia on the leg. Jeremy uses the dog as a distraction, deciding to begin pulling on the sapphire necklace containing Elena's voice. Nik bites her again; it snaps and falls to the floor, shattering into pieces as she screams once again. A bright light shines from the broken shards of sapphire and it surrounds Elena. The glowing light flows into Elena and she begins to sing again, a huge smile on her face. She blinks and looks around to see Damon standing in the exact same place as before but with a confused expression on his face.

"Damon…" Elena cries in happiness as she launches herself at the prince. Tears are streaming down her cheeks as she presses her face into his chest.

"Elena, you can talk!" Damon looks down at her, sapphire eyes confused.

"I can sing too," Elena giggles as she steps back and bites her lip. She tucks a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear and blinks up at him shyly.

"You're the one," Damon chuckles and wraps his arms around her, bringing her into the comfort of his strong solid body. "It was your voice I heard after the shipwreck.

"Damon, get away from her," Tatia snarls, but the two ignore her.

"I can't believe it was you all along and I didn't know it," the prince says in an awed tone of voice.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you but I—" Elena starts to reply when Damon swoops in and kisses her. Her heart swells and she presses back against him, their lips moving in tandem. They are unaware of everyone around them.

"Damon, no!" Tatia cries, but it is cut off as the sun falls from the sky into the ocean. Elena wobbles and the raven haired man tries to catch her. His eyes widen as he watches her legs melt back together and scales grow on her skin as she turns back into a mermaid. "You're too late!" Katherine cackles as she returns to her true form, a cecaelia with dark red tentacles and long brown hair. Everyone, even Damon, steps back in horror.

Katherine crawls over to Elena and grabs her, nails digging into her skin. "So long, lover boy!" the cecaelia laughs wickedly and, with a struggling Elena in her grip, jumps off of the boat and into the water.

"Elena!" Damon shouts. Only bubbles pop out of the water.

**Yet another climactic scene! Please don't forget to review! I'm gonna finish up this story and then there might be an interval between this story's completion date and Beauty and the Beast's start date.**


	9. Battling the Cecaelia

Katherine drags Princess Elena back under the waters of the sea as the mermaid struggles in her grasp. "Don't worry, princess," the evil cecaelia reassures her, "you'll make a lovely addition to _my_ collection." Before Katherine can say anything else, she is stopped in her tracks by King Elijah.

"Stop right there, Katherine," he demands sharply as Alaric stands on the sea floor beside him.

"Well, isn't it the might king of all the oceans…" Katherine laughs. "It's been a long _long_ time, dear."

"Let my daughter go this instant," the king booms furiously.

"Well, I would…" Katherine smirks, "but you see, she belongs to me now. She signed a contract."

"Daddy," Elena cries, trying to get out of Katherine's grip, "I'm sorry!" He just looks at her before his trident starts glowing as he tries to remove the signature from the contract, but all it does is throw Katherine against a stone wall. The signature is still there when the dust clears.

"I told you," Katherine snarks and rolls her eyes. "This contract is legit, completely unbreakable, even for the most merman in all of the seven seas." Elijah is getting very ticked off with Katherine but increasingly worried about his youngest daughter's freedom.

"However," Katherine starts with a malicious smile, "I always was a woman who could find a great deal." Katherine smirks at King Elijah as she pulls at Elena's hair, making the girl whimper. "Your youngest daughter is about as about as precious as the sapphires she stole from the prince." With that, the oldest creature in the ocean freezes Elena inside a crystal so she will not be able to talk her father out of his bargain with Katherine.

"But I am able to offer a trade-off," the cecaelia continues, "for something of even more value."

* * *

Meanwhile, above the water, it has gotten quite stormy that night because of all of the negative energy radiating off of the cecaelia's dark powers. Damon, who had been frozen with realization as to why Elena's heart beat so differently from other humans, shakes his head and begins to get a row boat ready. She's a _mermaid_, he thinks in awe. He'd thought Kol was crazy, but he'd fallen in love with one! With that thought in mind, Damon jumps off of the Royal ship onto a life boat and begins rowing toward the middle of the ocean to find Elena. "What are you doing, Damon?" Stefan cries from the side of the ship "It's dangerous down there!"

"I lost her once, Stef," the prince shouts back, "I'm not gonna lose her again."

* * *

Elena watches, frozen, as her father and Katherine come up with a deal. Her body trembles inside as she waits for his final decision. "So Elijah, do we have a deal?" Katherine asks with a sultry smile.

"We do," King Elijah answers even as he uses his powerful trident to sign his own contract stating that he will take Elena's place as Katherine's prisoner for all eternity. He knows that Elena is young and she still has a lot to learn and her determination to be with Damon is stronger than anything her father can do as a punishment. He also knows that was a mistake Elena did not intend to make. As much as he wants to punish her for going off and signing a contract with a cecaelia, he never wanted to lose his youngest daughter, for she resembles his late wife the most and she still has a lot to learn.

On the other hand, he can learn a lot from her as well. Like the fact that all humans aren't bad, and perhaps one day humans and merpeople can live in harmony. Elena could be the key to the union of both of their worlds. So Elijah decides, with or without him, his little Elena can find a way back to Damon and find peace both in her heart and between the two races.

"The deal has been done!" Katherine laughs as the crystal around Elena's body disappears, only to reappear around her father instead, leaving his crown and trident untouched.

Elena cries out, tears rolling down her cheeks to mix with her natural environment, as she races over to her father. "Daddy, no!" she sobs. "Daddy!"

"King Elijah," Alaric asks the stone sadly, knowing the king won't respond.

On the surface, Damon can sense powerful magic coming from below the boat where the three sea creatures are located. He jumps off of the boat to see what he happening. Hopefully, he'll save Elena in the process.

Elena's eyes are glassy with tears as she cries out in realization and revulsion on what she's unintentionally made her father choose. Fear shoots up her spine as she thinks of the events to follow. "Dad?" she presses a hand against the crystal surface trapping her father inside. Leaning her head against the hard cut, she whispers his name over and over again, hoping he'll be able to break free. Her hopes are dashed as Katherine lunges for the trident.

"Finally, the crown and trident of Atlantis are mine!" the cecaelia cackles as she places the crown on her head.

Anger sweeps through Elena's veins and she snarls as she launches herself at the old sea witch. "You evil, heartless monster!" the brunette screeches.

"Don't you mess with me, you pathetic girl," Katherine shouts. "Whether I have a contract or not—" Suddenly, a shadow smashes into her, barreling them both into the nearest wall.

"Damon!" Elena cries, hope fluttering in her heart before she realizes how much danger she's in. "Get out of here! She'll destroy you!"

"Why you little—" Katherine trails off in her anger. "Mason, Tyler, after him!" The two eels swim after Damon, chasing him to the surface. He makes it up for only a minute before they reach him. Mason wraps his tail around one leg and Tyler around another before they begin to drag him below the surface. Even with what he is, he won't be able to last long before passing out.

Anna and Alaric, realizing what's going to happen, rush to his aid. Anna claws at Tyler's eyes while Alaric pinches Mason's tail, making them let go. Damon, who still has a bit of air left in his lungs, spins around— fangs unsheathed and eyes black with bloodlust— and hisses at them. Elena, down below on the sea floor, freezes. '_What is he_?' she wonders, her jaw slack with awe. Even with black veins under his eyes and sharp teeth, he is still one of the most beautiful creatures she has ever seen.

"Say good bye to your prince, Elena!" Katherine's snarl breaks the brunette mer out of her Damon-induced trance. The cecaelia cackles madly as she points Elijah's trident toward Damon, who stays frozen, hissing out his last breaths of air. Even though he won't die from it, having tons of water in one's lungs for a long time sucks. The merprincess gasps in terror as she pulls Katherine's hair, ruining her aim and the light hits the two eels rather than hitting Damon right in the heart.

"My babies!" Katherine cries, looking at the two pieces of kelp floating down in the place where the eels had been before. "You are going to pay for that, Princess!" Elena flicks her tail against the sea floor to propel herself to Damon's side, where she wraps an arm around his waist and begins to haul him to the surface.

Katherine, still furious at Elena for destroying her pets, begins using her dark powers and Elijah's staff to make herself grow with fury and hunger for vengeance. The emotions make her powers stronger and so she grows faster and faster. Anna and Alaric can _see_ the power surrounding Katherine and gasp in wonder of what will happen next.

On the surface, Damon and Elena swim toward each other as the prince of Mysteria holds tightly to the merprincess of Atlantis. "Damon," Elena cradles his face in her hands after he coughs up the water in his lungs, "you have to get out of here." She shakes her head, tears stinging her cheeks. "You won't be able to fight her."

"No!" Damon defies her as he brings her closer, feeing her scales against his skin. "I finally found exactly what I was looking for… and I'm not going to leave you." He wipes the tears from her cheeks, even though it is almost impossible to tell tears from salt water. His sea blue eyes flash with determination and Elena shakes her head softly, admiring the man who has stolen her heart. She's about to tell him when the water below them begins to light up and bubble with dark energy. Katherine emerges from the water, making the couple separate in between the points of the crown on the gigantic cecaelia's head.

Knowing that they have to be together, no matter what, both jump into the water and begin their embrace once again, clinging to each other in the maelstrom of the angry ocean. "You pathetic fools!" Katherine's voice booms. She laughs in a bellowing tone as she begins to shoot dark magic at the couple.

"Watch out!" Damon cries as he spins around, pulling Elena to his chest as the dark magic, which has shaped itself into a shard of black ice, sinks into his back. Elena gasps, but Damon kisses her forehead to reassure her that he is fine. Watching with wide eyes as he pulls the shard from his back and the wound closes up, the brunette looks up at him in awe.

"Now I am the ruler of all the ocean!" Katherine cackles, creating huge waves that tear Damon and Elena apart. "The waves obey my every whim!"

"Damon, no!" Elena cries as he is pulled away from her.

"The ocean and all they occupy will be forced to bow to my immeasurable power!" Katherine proclaims as she creatures a whirlpool on the surface of the water, lifting sunken ships from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. Elena tries to get back to Damon, but the ships block her path and make it almost impossible for her. With wide eyes, she watches Damon get pushed under the water.

"Damon!" she screams again, however, she breaths an sigh of relief when she sees his hand reaching up to grab a rope of one of the ships and is able to pull himself up onto the deck. Katherine notices that Elena is straying closer and closer to the whirlpool. The golden trident shining darkly in her hand, the cecaelia points a beam of Power at Elena, pushing her to the bottom of the whirlpool and onto the ocean floor. Damon scowls at the oversized octopus woman before he runs to the wheel of the ship, hoping that nothing would shatter and kill him. He's literally walking on his own death trap.

Elena looks up at the gigantic cecaelia, her eyes burning with stubborn fire she got from her mother, as the sea witch continues to blast her with Power. While Katherine's back is turned, Damon carefully sheers the ship toward where the middle of Katherine's spine is. The towering figure lifts her arms to the sky, about to deliver the final blow to the youngest princess of Atlantis.

"So much... for true love!" Katherine cackles as she readies her Power, darkness massing at the tallest part of the trident to form some sort of shadow ball, and aims it right at a trapped Elena. The princess' eyes widen in fear, a whimper falling from her lips that only Damon can catch under the sound of the roaring ocean. Damon rams the boat into Katherine from behind, and the long point at the front of the ship stabs her in the spine, snapping it in half. It impales her heart and he can smell the sickly sweet scent of magic tainted blood. Lightning streaks across the sky and strikes Katherine right in the heart, where it begins to radiate out from her body before she sinks below the surface and dissolves into the salt water while Anna and Alaric watch in horror at the sight.

Damon manages to swim back to shore once he checks himself over for splinters while the wrecked ships return to the bottom of the sea. Elijah's trident slowly floats down from the surface of the sea towar Katherine's lair and sparks shoot up, releasing all of the trapped merpeople from Katherine's cruel grip. They all cheer, happy that they are free at last. The trident comes to rest right next to its rightful owner. Elijah smiles as the crystal bursts into a thousand pieces and picks up the trident and crown, placing it back on his head.

The darkness of the sea witch fades and everything goes back to normal. Well… almost everything.

**Yay, Katherine's dead! I've decided that I'd let out all of the climatic stuff and then make a chapter for their reunion and Delena's wedding. Please don't forget to review and tell me what you thought!**


	10. Becoming Part of Your World

As the sun begins to rise the morning after Katherine's demise, Elena watches the exhausted Prince Damon crawl up the shore. There is a wooden piece of a boat sticking out of his stomach and dried blood all over him. She tilts her head to the side in confusion as he pulls out the wood and throws it to the sand. Gasping in awe, she watches as the wound closes itself and he lays back on the sand, the fine grains shimmering and making his body look almost golden. Anna looks up at her friend from where she sits on a rock near the princess.

Elijah watches his daughter as she stares sadly at the man on the shore, her eyes filled with longing. Alaric swims beside him, holding himself afloat.

"I suppose she really does love the prince if she was willing to go through all of that just to be with him," Elijah acknowledges the man's love for his daughter.

"Not to mention he really does love her if he was willing to risk his life," Alaric points out.

Elijah nods. "That is true."

"Like I always say, Your Majesty," Alaric looks up at the king with a sad look on his face, "'children have got to be free to lead their own lives.'"

"_You_ always say that, Alaric?" Elijah's eyebrow rises in suspicion as he smiles down at his advisor, who chuckles nervously. "Well... I guess there's one problem left," Elijah sighs as he watches his daughter hang her head and tears slide down her cheeks. Her light purple tail is curled around her, as if she is sitting on her knees, and Anna takes one of her hands in a comforting gesture.

"And what's that, Your Majesty?" Alaric asks, looking up at the king with a startled expression.

"How much I'm going to miss her," Elijah says sadly as he lowers his trident. The magical object sends out a soft light toward the heartbroken Elena, who looks down in surprise as suddenly, her tail begins to glow and transform into two human legs. Her eyes are wide and shining with joy as she glances back at her father, who nods his head toward the man on the beach with a sad smile.

The merprincess slips happily into the water, and when she rises up again, she is wearing a beautiful sea green dress that sparkles in the sunlight. Damon sits up quickly as he watches the woman of his dreams and reality, walk out of the water with her hands spread wide. He runs straight to her, pulling her into his arms and spinning her around. She giggles into his chest and, when she looks up, he finally kisses her like he's wanted to all of this time.

* * *

Princess Elena of Atlantis and Prince Damon of Mysteria are wed on the next day. Stefan smiles at his brother from his place as Best Man, while Lexi, Elena's only human friend, stands as her MOH. As they are about to share their first kiss as husband and wife, Nik barks and licks her hand, making the princess giggle. Her eyes are bright with happiness and her smile rivals the sun shining brightly down on both of them.

Everyone, both fins and feet, is invited to the wedding and, just like King Elijah thought, his youngest daughter brings about the union between the land occupants and the ocean occupants. Everyone cheers, even those few who opposed the union. Elena's three sisters wave happily at her from the water, cheering and yelling congratulations. Jeremy struggles to fly Anna up to her best friend so that they can share one last hug.

Meanwhile, Alaric manages to get on top of the wedding cake, where he watches as the castle chef, one of the very few in Mysteria who likes to eat fish, begins to chase him. As he dodges yet another attack, the chef cuts the cuts perfectly down the middle, but did not wreck its beauty. The chef continues to chase Alaric across the deck of the ship until the crab suddenly gets an idea. He snips a rope with his claw, which is attached to a pole, and the pole hits the chef in the face, knocking out most of his teeth. When the chef is distracted, Alaric jumps back into the water with Anna and Jeremy.

"Yeah," Alaric pumps his claw in the air, "he'll think twice before messing with me again!" Anna and Jeremy chuckle.

On the ship, Elena walks up to the railing in her beautiful wedding dress while Elijah uses the waves of the ocean to lift himself up to see her.. He looks at his daughter proudly as she embraces him in a hug.

"I love you, Daddy," Elena whispers as she buries her face in her father's shoulder, tears of sadness and happiness mixing together. Once her father releases her from the hug, she turns back to Damon, who bows before the King of the Oceans. As her father finally lowers himself to the sea, Elena blows him a kiss. Damon walks up to Elena and wraps his arms around her waist as she leans back into him with a soft smile on her face. They both wave to mermaids below him.

In joyous celebration of the union of the land and sea, Elijah creates an incredibly colorful rainbow in the sky with his trident for all to see. And, as the Royal Wedding Ship sets sail toward the sunset, Damon pulls Elena into a romantic and passionate kiss.

**And thus ends the story of The Little Mermaid... I hope everyone liked the story! Please don't forget to check out the outfits on my profile. Coming up next week is Beauty and the Beast!**


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